Release Title

#Release Title

#Release Details

This release introduces the Model Context Protocol (MCP) server and its Claude Desktop extension (.mcpb), a restructured release pipeline with cryptographic signing, and a breaking change to how change summaries are generated. The MCP server runs as a standalone service (stdio or streamable-HTTP) with bearer-token auth, rate limiting, and six tools for change summaries, changelogs, release notes, usage stats, and model listing. The Desktop Extension packages the server and the AOT CLI into a single installable bundle for macOS (Apple Silicon), Linux (x86_64/arm64), and Windows (x86_64). A new signing infrastructure rotates Ed25519 keys, verifies releases on install, and cleans up binaries that fail verification.

Breaking Changes

• Change summaries now diff against HEAD instead of the remote base branch. SummaryService.generate_summary compares the working tree (staged + unstaged tracked changes + untracked files) to HEAD. The remote/base-branch is still resolved as metadata for the artifact's base_ref field used by changelog cross-checks, but it no longer drives the diff itself.

Highlights

MCP Server — A new mcp_server package provides a FastAPI/Starlette-based MCP server with six tools (change_summary, last_summary, changelog, release_notes, usage, list_models). It supports both stdio and streamable-HTTP transports, bearer-token authentication, fixed-window rate limiting, workspace allow-listing (multi-root, Git-repo-root enforcement), and lazy binary resolution with automatic installer fallback. Configuration loads from environment variables and a .mcp.env file.

MCP Desktop Extension (.mcpb) — The mcpb/ directory defines a Claude Desktop extension (v1.1.3, compatible with Claude Desktop ≥0.10.0) that bundles the MCP server launcher and the AOT CLI binary. scripts/mcp/build_mcpb.sh uses PyInstaller to produce a single-file executable per platform (darwin-arm64, linux-amd64, linux-arm64, windows-amd64) and packages it with manifest.json and an icon into a .mcpb file. The manifest declares user-configurable allowed workspaces (required), a git remote (defaults to origin), and an optional developer binary path override. AI provider credentials (AI_PROVIDER, AI_API_KEY, AI_MODEL, ...) are configured separately via .mcp.env, not through the extension's manifest.

MCP Server Deployment — A Dockerfile.mcp (python:3.12-slim) and cloudrun.env.example enable containerized deployment to Cloud Run. The image includes a pre-built gitaiflow-linux-arm64 binary, exposes port 8080, and runs the MCP server module. A claude_desktop_config.example.json shows the Docker-based integration for Claude Desktop.

Release Signing & Key Rotation — Ed25519 signing keys have been rotated. scripts/release/sign_release.sh generates SHA256SUMS and a detached .sig for each release directory; gitai_r2.sh auto-signs when GITAIFLOW_SIGNING_KEY_FILE is set. The public key is baked into install.sh and mcp_server/binary.py; the private key stays offline in CI secrets. verify_release_signing_key.sh derives the public key from the Keychain private key, compares it against the embedded key, and verifies the live R2 SHA256SUMS signature. On signature verification failure, the freshly installed binary is deleted to prevent a permanent trust bypass.

Restructured CI/Release Pipeline — The monolithic tag_release.sh is replaced by granular tag.sh and release.sh scripts with per-product (AOT/MCP) and per-host (GitLab/GitHub) targets. Versioning splits into AOT_VERSION, MCP_VERSION, and MCP_AOT_VERSION. R2 layout separates AOT and MCP tracks under installers/AOT/ and installers/MCP/ with independent latest.txt pointers. GitLab CI jobs are now disabled by default (SKIP_* flags); local scripts are the authoritative release path.

Installer Hardening — Both install.sh and install.ps1 now enforce mandatory SHA-256 checksum verification (abort on mismatch or missing entry). install.sh adds best-effort Ed25519 signature verification over SHA256SUMS (requires OpenSSL ≥3.2); install.ps1 documents that signature checks run on the MCP path. install.ps1 uses atomic temp-file download + move and emits detailed expected/actual checksums on failure. A retry with exponential backoff (3 attempts, 1.5 s base) and a curl/8.7.1 User-Agent absorb transient network failures and avoid Cloudflare 403s on R2.

Changelog Enrichment — ChangelogService adds _get_branch_commits (commits unique to the current branch since merge-base(base_ref, HEAD) within a date range) and _merge_commits (authoritative change-summary commits + branch commits as gap-fill, deduped by first message line). DiffGenerationService.generate accepts a new diff_ref parameter to bypass remote/base-branch resolution (e.g., HEAD).

Deleted-File Handling in Diffs — _get_changed_files switches from --name-only to --name-status so deleted files (status D) are no longer dropped. _tracked_at_ref detects files tracked at a given ref (catching staged deletions via git cat-file), and _get_file_timestamp uses git log on the path, working for deleted files too. Staged deletions now report "deleted" instead of "added" in status and diff output.

Fixes

• Underlying exceptions are now included in _verify_release_signature error messages.
• Workspace validation error messages clarify that the repository must be within gitaiflow's MCP workspace.
• Missing EOF newlines fixed in compile.sh and install.sh; assorted test-formatting fixes.

Dependencies

• Added requirements-mcp.txt with mcp==2.2.0, uvicorn>=0.35,<1, and cryptography>=42 for the MCP server.
• Docker images install git and ca-certificates as system dependencies.

Documentation

• Manifest description changed from "local repositories" to "code repositories".

Tests

• New regression suite test_change_summary_head_diff.py covers HEAD-based diffs and deleted-file handling.
• Changelog enrichment tests verify earlier commits without artifacts appear, artifact-covered commits aren't duplicated, and no extra branch commits produces no output change.
• Comprehensive MCP server test suites added for allowed workspaces, config, Docker binary resolution, executor, launcher, middleware (auth + rate limiting), native binary resolution, stdio transport, and workspace validation.
• Installer tests enabled with SHA256SUMS generation for fake release assets; Linux/Windows Docker platform tests commented out.

Build & CI

• build_mcpb.sh stamps each .mcpb manifest with a unique +build.<UTC timestamp> suffix so Claude Desktop reinstalls on key rotation without a version bump.
• gitai_r2.sh splits sync into two passes: critical manifests (SHA256SUMS, SHA256SUMS.sig, latest.txt) uploaded with Cache-Control: no-store; binaries uploaded separately with normal caching.
• Added .dockerignore excluding dev files from Docker builds.
• CI job comments clarify deploy-telemetry independence and github-mirror source-only mirroring.

Chores

• Version bumped from 1.1.0 → 1.1.2 → 1.1.3 in pyproject.toml.
• .gitignore updated for .mcp.env, release signing keys (release-signing.key*, *.signing.key*), and KEY_ROTATIONS.log.

Installation

gitaiflow CLI -- macOS & Linux (bash), installs to ~/.local/bin, no sudo needed:

# latest
curl -fsSL https://install.djangoplay.org/gitaiflow | bash

# specific version 
curl -fsSL https://install.djangoplay.org/gitaiflow | bash -s -- v1.1.3

Windows (PowerShell):

# latest
irm https://install.djangoplay.org/gitaiflow.ps1 | iex

# specific version
$env:GITAIFLOW_VERSION = "v1.1.3"; irm https://install.djangoplay.org/gitaiflow.ps1 | iex

Direct binary downloads for macOS (Apple Silicon), Linux (x86_64/arm64), and Windows are attached to this release.

Claude Desktop extension (MCPB) -- no source checkout, Docker, Python, or manual MCP config needed. macOS & Linux:

curl -fsSL https://install.djangoplay.org/gitaiflow-mcp | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://install.djangoplay.org/gitaiflow-mcp.ps1 | iex

Downloads the platform .mcpb file to your Downloads folder -- open it with Claude Desktop to install.

Self-hosting the MCP server (Docker, Cloud Run, or from source) is covered in the MCP Documentation Index.

Full Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for the complete list of additions, fixes, and test coverage.